エンジンを空回りさせちゃいかん。長持ちさせたいからね。

Sentence Discussions Japanese
#1
English Translation

Don’t race the car. We want to make it go as far as possible.

Is「ちゃいかん」a contraction of てはいけない？I presume it would be a very informal contraction.

#2

@ericaw
Yes, you are correct.

  • (formal and polite) 空回りさせてはいけません

  • (formal and decisive tone) 空回りさせてはならない

  • (slightly formal) 空回りさせてはいけない

  • (casual) 空回りさせちゃいけない

  • (casual, masculine and like a direct order) 空回りさせちゃいかん

The original Japanese sentence can be used when a male master of car maintenance is coaching/instructing his young apprentice, for example.